Suspension-railway



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. D. M. HARMAN. SUSPENSION RAILWAY.

N0. 579,147. Patented Mar. 23, 1897.

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D. M. HARMAN. SUSPENSION RAILWAY.

N0. 579,147. Patented Mar. 23,1897,

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SUSPENSION-RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 579,147, dated March 23, 1897. Application filed June 30, 1896'. Serial No. 597,559. (I\To model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DANIEL M. HARMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Suspension- Railways, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to a new and useful improvement in elevated cable-railways to be used for transportation and amusement purposes, and has for its object to so construct a cable and arrange the same as to permit of the transportation of a limited number of persons from one bank of a river to another, or from one elevation to another, as the case may be, and to form a continuous track, so that the cars may continue without interruption to pass across and back, thereby afford ing recreation and amusement to the occupants of said cars.

With these ends in view this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth and then specifically designated by the claims.

In order that those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains may understand how to make and use the same, its construction and operation will now be described in detail, referring to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a birds-eye perspective of my improvement as arranged to transport persons to and fro across a river; Fig. 2, a side elevation of a car traveling upon the cables as arranged in accordance with my improvement; Fig. 3, an enlarged cross-section of such a car,illustrating the construction of the cables and arrangement of the propelling mechanism; Fig. 4, a detailed perspective of the meeting ends of two of the rails and the loop-joint for securing the same together, and Fig. 5 a modification illustrating the manner of securing the spreader-yokes to the cables when rails and loops are not used.

In carrying out my invention I preferably arrange two or more cables A side by side and bind them together by means of the rails 13, which are laid upon the upper side thereof and have their ends secured together by the loops 0, and in order that the loops may form a part of the rails and lie flush therewith the ends of the said rails are cut away, as clearly shown in Fig. 4:, and the loops fitted within this cut-away portion and bolted thereto in any convenient manner. The holes through which these bolts are passed are preferably elongated to provide for the expansion and contraction incident to the change of temperature to which the rails and cable are exposed. Two rails thus constructed are suspended from the station D to the substation E upon the opposite banks of a river and arranged parallel with each other, so as to form a track upon which the cars may travel, and, as here shown, a return-track is also provided in the same manner, and the ends of each of the tracks are connected within the station and substation by a semicircular track which is constructed in any convenient manner and need not of necessity be a part of the cableway, and this arrangement permits of the cars travelingcontinuously to and fro across the river.

In order that the rails of the track may be held at a predetermined distance from each other and parallel and prevented from spreading when the cars are passing thereover, yokes F are bolted to the under side of the loops, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, and these yokes extend downward to a distance sufficient to leave a clear'way for the passage of the cars, the bodies of which are suspended below the tracks, in order that their equilibrium may be firmly established, and the greater the load placed therein the more stable will be this equilibrium. The cars which I have here shown as adapted to travel upon these tracks consist of a body G, in which are arranged suitable seats H for the accommodation of the passengers, and I are the truckwheels, which are preferably double flanged so as to embrace the rails upon which they are adapted to travel, and these wheels are rigidly mounted upon the axle J, the latter being preferably made in two halves and joined together by the sleeve K at the center, said sleeve preferably being of insulating material so as to prevent the passage of the electric current from one half of the axle to the other. Around this sleeve is secured the gearwheel L, adapted to mesh with the motorpinion M.

N represents the motor, which is suitably mounted with the car-body and connected by the collector O with onehalf of the aXle J and by the collector P with the other half of the axle, so that when the wheels of the car are upon the rails of the track the current passing along one rail will flow through the wheel and one half of the axle, by way of the collector 0, through the motor and back to the other half of the axle to the collector P, and finally reach the opposite rail of the track upon its return-course. Thus the motor will be caused to operate the car in a well-known manner, and the latter will be propelled at the desired rate of speed to and fro upon the tracks.

The station D may be provided with suitable switch mechanisms, whereby the current passing over the rails may be controlled so as to stop or start the cars as desired, but in practice I prefer to have the stationary semicircular tracks within said station insulated from the cable-tracks, so that the car passing upon this section of the track may be stopped for the loading of passengers and then put in motion by any convenient mechanical means or by a separate circuit under the control of the station-motor. WVhen this arrangement is used for pleasure purposes, the cars are loaded and permitted to pass to and fro over the tracks a number of times and then stop within the station D for the unloading and loading thereof, and this station may be of such a size to accommodate all the cars running upon the tracks at a given time, so that all of said cars may be brought to a standstill within the station at one time, and when put in motion no interference will be had with their continuous travel.

lVhile I have here shown these tracks as suspended across a river, it is obvious that they may be suspended from towers of greater or less distance from each other, the only requirement being that the tracks be sufficiently elevated to prevent interference from the inequalities of the surface over which the cars are suspended, and, preferably, they should be at a height to give great observation of the surrounding country, which would add much to the enjoyment of the passengers traveling thereover.

I have shown cables laid side by side and bound together by the rails and loops to form the track, but it is obvious that these cables maybe made of smaller diameter and a greater number used than here shown. For instance, three would produce a very desirable result, and since the smaller the cables and the greater the number thereof the wider the exposed surface for the travel of the wheel and for the collection of the electric current through said wheels there are some advantages in favor of this form of construction.

If found desirable, the rails may be omitted and interwoven cables used, so as to present the desired surface for the wheels of the cars to run upon, and for some uses this is found preferable.

Should it be preferable to propel the cars bya moving cable instead of an electric motor, this may be accomplished by arranging a guide-pulley Q upon the cross-section of each of the yokes, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, and providing the several cars with a suitable gripping device for attachment to the cable, which may run within these pulleys.

Each of the truck-wheels of the cars are inclosed by a housing R and the tracks throughout the length of the car are protected upon each side of said car by the guardstrips S, and this is of considerable importance when an electric motor is being used for the propulsion of the cars, in that it precludes the possibility of the passengers coming in contact with the rails over which the current is flowing. V

In the modification shown in Fig. 5 the spreade'r-yokes F are secured directly to the cables by having their upper bifurcated ends partly embracing said cables, and in practice these ends should pass around the cables to a distance equal to about three-fourths of their circumferences, as clearly shown.

Having thus fully described this invention, what is claimed as new and useful is 1. A suspension cable-railway, consisting of a series of cables arranged parallel with each other and having rails superimposed thereon, and a series of spreader-yokes for holding said cables parallel with each other, as specified.

2. In a suspension cable-railway, a series of cables arranged side by side, a series of rails superimposed thereon, a series of loops for securing the ends of said rails and cables in position, and a series of spreader-yokes secured to said loops for maintaining each series of the cables parallel, as shown and described.

3. In a suspension cable-railway, two parallel tracks, consisting of two or more cables arranged side by side, rails superimposed upon said cables, said rails having their ends halved, loops adapted to fit within said halving and lie flush with the upper surface of the rails, spreadenyokes secured to said loops so as to maintain the tracks in parallelism in combination with cars adapted to travel upon said tracks, as shown and described.

4. In a suspension cable-railway,two tracks, each consisting of two rails composed of cables and superimposed strips, spreader-yokes for holding said rails in their proper relative position, stations from which said tracks are suspen ded,semicircular tracks arranged within each of the stations with which the ends of the suspended track connect, an electric car adapted to travel upon said tracks having double-flanged wheels to prevent their displacement, and an electric motor for propelling the same, substantially as shown and described.

5. A cable-track for a suspension-railway ICO of the character described, consisting of two fixed my signature in the presence of two subor more cables, yokes for holding said cables scribing Witnesses.

parallel said yokes having bifurcated ends h which fiartially embrace the cables and a DANIEL HARMAN' 5 track lying on the cables between the bifur- Witnesses:

cations, as specified. S. S. WILLIAMSON,

In testimony whereof I have hereunto af- MARK BUFORD. 

